Townsend, Tennessee - Fly Fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, East Tennessee and Western North Carolina

Welcome to the Fishing Report. It is Sunday morning after the time change. I came to work at 8:00 am, which is late for me. This time change has me messed up. There were hardly any vehicles on the roads. I think everyone is a little confused internally today.

It is cloudy and 41 degrees this morning. It is a beautiful morning in the Smoky Mountains. The air is clear and the sun is trying to poke through the clouds. The colors are spectacular.

The high temperature today is supposed to be 69 degrees. Wow! You know what that means? The water is going to warm and fishing should be good, maybe very good. Flow in Little River is 479 cubic feet per second (cfs). Median flow for this date is 387 cfs. The water temperature was 44.5 degrees at 8:00 am.

Yesterday, the water temperature at 8:00 was 40.5 degrees. Throughout the day it climbed to 46.3. We may see that number exceed 50 degrees today. That’s what we’ve been waiting for. Yesterday the temp moved upward by about 6 degrees. If that happens today, we’ll see the water temperature in the 50’s for sure.

We do have a strong cold front moving in tonight. Sometimes that will affect the fishing either good or bad. We’ll see.

Be ready with Quill Gordons and Blue Quills. There will most likely be some nice hatches on the rivers and streams. Blue Wing Olives may also be on the water. Watch for trout rising. They should be doing just that.

There may be some snow in the higher elevations. Three days ago, Mt. LeConte’s weather station posted a snow depth of 15 inches. Yesterday morning that number was 5 inches. I don’t know if the snow is gone or some remains. The weather station will not report until later this morning. There is a chance, if there is some remaining snow, it will melt today and that could affect the water temperatures.

Look for rain and wind tomorrow and tomorrow night. It is going to cool off this week too. What we have now is typical March weather. We’ll have good days and slow days on the rivers. We may even get a little snow this week. The long term outlook for next weekend looks excellent with highs in the 60’s and lows in the high 40’s to 50 degrees.

So, today is your day. I hope fishing is very good and I think it will be.

I’ve worked on a new wooly bugger for bass, specifically smallmouth bass. This fly is now for sale on our online store. CLICK HERE. Check it out. I’m kind of proud of the picture I took yesterday.

I could not find any weighted Wooly Buggers tied on a bass stinger hook to buy and stock in the store. Black Wooly Buggers are an excellent smallmouth bass fly. They are ranked in my top three along with a Knucklehead a Kent’s Stealth Bomber. To make them available to you, I’m tying them myself. I only have 5 dozen tied right now but there will be plenty more coming soon. I’m calling this Byron’s Bass Bugger for online search reasons.

Internet searches are key to selling products. We’ve run into search issues with some of our flies. For instance, if you search for a Stealth Bomber you get airplanes. Add fly to that and it doesn’t help much. Airplanes fly. If you search on a Knuclehead you get guitars and motorcycles. Add bass fly or my name and you will see the fly. Well, I thought the “Byron’s Bass Bugger” would not have any search problems. Wouldn’t you know it, Bass footwear has a model called the “Byron”. Oh well.

The Bugger is tied on a Gamakatsu B10 S stinger hook with a wide gap and sharp point. Weight is provided by 18 wraps of .020 non-toxic lead-free wire. The hackle comes from Whiting Farms. I bought some Bugger Packs for that. There is absolutely no flash in the fly. A flashy fly can discourage a smallie where I fish on the Little Tennessee River. We’ve proven that. These flies are easy to tie or you can buy them here. The first fly I will use in a week or so will be one of these in the Little T. I may use a Knucklehead or Stealth Bomber before then in Little River.

Wednesday will be my day off this week and the weather doesn’t look too good right now. So, I probably won’t be fishing on the big river. I hate boating in the wind. But I may try Little River and wade. The time change is very favorable to fishing after work.